Ohio Republican Party Elections & Shenanigans! Don't Be Mislead by Swampers

 There are a lot of questions and misconceptions regarding the election of officers with the Ohio Republican Party. 

Vice Chair Bryan Williams, in trying to mislead and use slight of hand so he can wrest control and be elected Ohio Republican Chair at the next meeting in violation of state law and the bylaws, wants to use the ORC to force an election. Then after realizing he was misinterpreting the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) he is trying to use the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) bylaws and he is also wrong in his interpretation of them.

Since they can be confusing and hard to follow, I will do my best to try and explain the who, where and what's of the ORC and ORP Bylaws as they pertain to this matter.

At first Bryan was incorrectly saying ORC 3517.04 allowed the State Central Committee Organizational meeting (officer elections) to take place after the election and certification of the SCC elections. It does not.

Section 3517.04 | Organization of state central committees

The members-elect of each major political party state central committee shall, except as otherwise provided in this section, meet following the declaration of the results by the boards of elections of the election of members of the state central committees, at a suitable place and time to be designated by the retiring chairman of the committee in accordance with party rules.

In the case of a county central committee, the meeting shall be held not earlier than six nor later than fifteen days following the declaration of the results by the board of elections of the election of members of county central committees in that county. Notice of any meeting held pursuant to this section, giving the place and time, shall be sent to each member-elect by the retiring secretary of the committee by mail and a copy of the notice shall be posted in the office of the secretary of state or board of elections, as the case may be, at least five days prior to any such meeting. The meeting shall be called to order by the retiring chairman or secretary or if there is no such officer, or if such officer is absent, then by a member of such committee designated by the secretary of state in the case of the state committees, and by a member of the board of elections of the same political party, designated by the board, in the case of county committees. A temporary chairman and secretary shall be chosen and the committee shall proceed to organize by the election of a chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, secretary, and such other officers as the rules provide.

The ORC 3517.04 clearly differentiates between State Central Committee and County Central Committee. Organization of State Central Committees is to be after the SCC election at a place and time designated by the retiring chairman in ACCORDANCE WITH PARTY RULES (bylaws).

Whereas the County Central Committees have a defined time of no less than 6 days and no more than 15 days after the results of the county central committee races are verified - the State Central Committee are to hold an organization of the committee per the party rules.

ORC 3517.04 was amended to include "per the party rules" by the state legislature over 20 years ago. The Republican Party did not want to hold elections for officers before the general elections, the Democrats did. So since they could not agree - it was amended to allow each party dictate how officers were elected.

So the ORC sets that State Party are to hold organizational meetings (elections) of party officers per the party rules/bylaws - not as Williams is leading people to believe. Williams is very well aware of the language change and intent.

Realizing that he was pursuing a failing argument – Williams switched arguments and is now trying to force an early election through the ORP bylaws.

Williams new argument or angle is that under Article 1 Section 2 of the ORP bylaws he can force an early election. Again, Williams is incorrect as the time and election procedure of ORP Party officers is clearly defined in Article 2 Section 1...

Article 1 Section 2

“At the first meeting of the State Central Committee following the election and qualification of its members, all of its officers, the chairman and co-chairman of the Ohio Republican Finance Committee, and the National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, shall be nominated and elected to the State Executive Committee, which shall then be merged into the Republican State Central Committee.”

While poorly written, this is saying - that at the first meeting after the election of SCC members, the members of the stated Executive Committee will be merged with the newly seated SCC.

This DOES NOT reference or mean there are elections for new officers.

In Section 2 Article 1 there is clear, defined and very specific language laying out the time and process for election of officers.

Section 2 Article 1 - Officers

"During the month of January of each odd-numbered year, the Committee shall meet and elect its officers by a majority vote of the seated members of the Committee (but not including vacancies in the Committee)." ---

As you can see the time for elections (January of odd year) is very specific.

Also in question has been the time frame of the first meeting. Since the change of the ORC noted above, the standard procedure, per the ORC 3717.04 and the bylaws is - after the primary elections usually held in March or May, the new State Central Committee is seated at the following meeting. At times an additional meeting may be held if needed. ORP bylaws state they must meet a minimum of 3 times per year. So simple math and a calendar will dictate there are meetings after the newly elected members are seated and the election of officers in January of the odd year.

Above I am just citing ORC, bylaws and fact on the manner in which they are applied AND with the intent in which they were written and passed.

Prior to now, Williams has never had issues, questioned or challenged the election of officers being in January of odd year when he was being investigated by the FBI for trying to strong arm candidates out of the race for John Kasich and Matt Borges, when he was Summit County GOP Chair or a member of the SCC himself. In fact, Williams was elected Vice-chair of ORP SCC under Timken in January 2019 & again in 2021. Only now that he is trying to strong arm himself in as the next ORP Chair does Williams take issue with the time frame of officer's elections as set forth by the ORC and the ORP bylaws. For the future of the Ohio Republican Party, our stae and voters - we must get this right!